Paper-feeler mechanism



L.R. BARBER. PAPER 'F-EEI E-R MECHANISM APPLICATION-"FILED AU.G.22', 192.1,

Patented Nov. 7, 1922.

INVENTOR LRBarbeJ' ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 3,

LEWIS R. BARBER, OF FRESNO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO LISENBYMANUFACTURING COMIPANY, 01E FRESNO, CALIFORNIA, A GORPORA'IION.

PAPER-FEELER MECHANISIVI.

Application filed August 22, 1921. Serial No. 494,072.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that l, LEWIS R. Barman, acitizen of the United States, residing at Fresno, county of Fresno,State of Califon 5 nia, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Paper-Feeler Mechanism; and I do declare the followin;;to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference beinghad to the accmnpanying drawings, and to the characters of referencemarked thereon, which if rm a part of this application.

This invention relates to improvements in printing presses of theindividual-sheet printing type, and especially to those of the generaltype shown in United States Patent Nos. 1,016,756, dated February 6th,1912, and 1,0413%, dated October 15th, 1912.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a means forpreventing the printing cylinder of the press from being moved to pressagainst the. inked form unless a piece of paper or other matter to beprinted has been fed between the cylinder and the form. In this mannerthe cylinder is pre vented from becoming coated with ink by contact withthe type, which of course would be deposited on the reverse side of thenext piece of material fed into the press to be printed, necessitatingthe discarding of this and probably other pieces of material, unless thepress is stopped and the cylinder wiped off.

Such a procedure is costly, both as to the waste of material, and theloss of time involved in stopping the press, which is apt to have to bedone quite frequently, especially with l'iandfeeding of the paper.

The object of the invention is carried out in a general way by holdingthe latch. which usually locks the operating rod in place, iu active.This results in the latter, which is spring-pulled, being free to returnwithout moving the printing cylinder, which con trolled thereby, downagainst the chase and type thereon for the period in the operation ofthe press when printing should take place.

A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensivedevice and yet one which willbe exceedingly effective for the purposesfor which it is designed.

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relativearrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the followingspecification and claims.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the several views.

is being fed into the plane of the printing cylinder.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view, showing the position of the feeler mechanismwhen the operating rod latch has engaged the lockingblock of the latter,allowing a printing operation to take place.

Fig. 3 is a similar view, showing the position of the feeler mechanismat the instant the paper is being passed over the feedplate into thepath of the printing cylinder.

Fig. 4 is another similar view, showing the position of the feelermechanism at the time a piece of material to be printed should be, butis not, passing over the feedplate.

5 is a top plan view of a feeler release or lift-lever.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on thedrawings, the numeral 1 denotes the stand or frame of the press, inwhich is slidably mounted a moving bed 2 which bears the type chase, andwhich is adapted to be reciprocated lengthwise of the frame by anysuitable means, not here shown.

The operating rod 3 of the press is slidably mounted to be movedto theright or rear end of the press by the moving bed, but to rei turn ofitself by suitable spring means, not shown. This rod carries a rack 41adapted to mesh with a gear 5 on the shaft 6 oi: the

- printing cylinder 7, ti e latter being eccentrically mounted on. itsshaft and arranged to be lowered when the gear is rotated with amovement of the rod and bed to the right. The rack considerably shorterthan the length of travel of the rod, so that it Wlll of course only bein mesh with its gear for a standard and connnon on this type of press.

My new feeder mechanism will now be described. This mechanism consistsof a feeler lever 12 fixed at its upper end on a pin 13 journaled in oneof the boxes 8, this pin projecting through the box and having formed onthat end a feeler-finger 14, adapted to pass through a hole 15 providedin the feed plate 9.

A rod 16 having a flexible connection with the lever 12 leads therefromto a rigid though adjustable connection with a latch plate 17 slidablymounted alongside the latch or look 11 on a pin 18 projecting from a.rigid plate 19 fixed on the frame 1, said pin passing through ahorizontal slot 20 in the latch plate. A pin 21 projects from the member11 above the plate 17 The top surface of the plate 17 is horizontallystepped as at A and B, with a slope or bevel C 0011- necting the twolevels, the beveled portion facing toward the lever 12 or away from thelock 11.

The position of the latch 17 relative to the pin 21 is such that whenthe finger 14 is projecting through the feed plate 9 as in Fig. 4, thehigh-level surface A of the plate 17 will be directly under said pin,preventing the lock 11 from dropping in front of the block 10; when thefinger 14 is held from passing through the feed plate by reason of apiece of paper being thereunder, the junction of the surfaces A and Cwill be slightly forward of the pin 21, while when the finger is raisedentirely clear of the feed plate as in Fig. 2, the lock 11 will beallowed to drop in front of the block 10 with a clearance between thepin 21 and surface B to spare.

A spring 22 acts on the lever 12 to normally hold the finger 14connected thereto projecting through the plate 9.

In order to release or throw the lever 12 at predetermined periods, soas to raise the feeler 14 above the feed plate, a release or lift lever23 is provided, which is pivoted as at 24 on a block 25 on the frame tothe rear of the lever 12. Journaled to said lever 23 on the oppositeside of the block on an axial pin to the rear of the pin 24 is a roller26 adapted to ride on a bumper block 27 carried on the moving bed 2. Therelation of this block, roller and lift lever to the lever 12' is suchthat when the roller is riding on the block the release lever is heldaway from the lever 12 allowing the spring 22 thereon to function, whilewhen the bumper block moves from under the roller the latter drops andthe release lever kicks against the lever 12 by reason of a spring 28 onthe former exerting its force to that end.

The lever 12 is not actually struck by the lever 23 itself, but by abutton or stem 29 projecting from the latter, the stem being adjustableso that an accurate relation between the members may be readilyattained.

Vith the above described structure therefore, when a piece of paper asat 30 is fed onto the feed plate, the finger on the lever 12 drops ontosaid paper, the lever having been just released by reason of the roller26 of the lift lever being engaged by the block 27 at that point, withthe travel of the moving bed to the right. This movement of the feelerlever places the plate 17 in the position shown in Fig. 3, which allowsthe lock 11 to then drop in front of the block 10, this movement beinghad by reason of the fact that the strength of the spring actingdownwardly on the lock 11 is greater than that of the spring 22, thusallowing the pin 21 to press down on the bevel edge C of the plate 17,moving the latter forwardly and causing the lever 12 to be likewisemoved, raising the feeler 14 above the paper so as not to retard thefeeding of the paper.

For a predetermined and necessary period the lock-latch 11 is heldagainst the block 10 while the cylinder 6 is held down as previouslydescribed, and the printing operation is had.

On the return of the moving bed to the left, the lock 11 isautomatically raised, and as soon as the block 27 clears the roller 26with this return movement, the lift lever 23 will be released, trippingthe lever 12 and holding it in the position as shown in Fig. 1, untilthe return of the bed to the right and the subsequent release of thefeeler-lever for another paper-feeling operation as already set forth.

If however no paper has been fed against the paper stop fingers 31 inproper sequence to the preceding piece, this releasing of thefeeler-lever allows the feeler to project through the feed plate,placing the plate 1.7 under the pin 21, preventing the lock 11 fromengaging the block; 10, and allowing the operating rod to r(- turn tothe left witbv out the rack thereon properly holding the printingcylinder in printing position. With the return of the moving bed, thefeeler lever is again released and the feeler raised as before.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I haveproduced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of theinvention as set forth herein.

lVhile this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the device, still in practice such deviations from suchdetail maybe resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit ofthe invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and useful anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A paper-feeler mechanism for printing presses having a moving bed, achase thereon, a printing cylinder, a feed-plate leading thereto, anoperating rod operatively con nected with the moving bed and printingcylinder for positioning the latter in cooperative relation with thechase, and a locklatch adapted to engage and hold the operating rod atapredetermined period inits operation, comprising a movable plate adaptedto prevent locking movement of the latch or to be positioned to allowsuch movement, a lever connected to said plate, and a finger connectedto thelever and. adapted to lie substantially level with said. plate orto project therethrough, the plate when the finger is in the firstposition allowing the locklatch to engage the ope ating rod butmoving tohold said latch inactive when the tinger is in the latter position.

2. A. press comprising a moving bed, a chase thereon, a printingcylinder, a teedplate leading thereto, an operating rod operativelyconnected with the moving bed and printing cylinder for positioning thelatter in cooperative relation with the chase, a lock latch adapted toengage and hold the operating rod at a predetermined period in itsoperation a movable plate adapted to prevent locking movement of thelatch or to be positioned to allow such movement, a lever connected tosaid plate, a finger connected to the lever and normally projectingthrough the feed-plate, and a release lever adapted to move against thelever to raise the finger from the feed plate, the movement of saidlever being controlled by the movement of the moving bed.

3. A structure as in claim 2, in which the release lever is providedwith an adjustable member for actual engagement with the finger lever,whereby the timing of the raising of the finger may be regulated.

4. A paper-feeler mechanism for printing presses having a moving bed, achase thereon, a printingcylinder, a feed plate leading thereto, anoperating rod operatively connected with the moving bed and printingcylinder for positioning the latter in co-operative relation with thechase, and locking means for engaging and holding the operating rod at apredetermined period of its operation, comprising movable meanscontrolling the actuation of said locking means, a lever connected tosaid movable means, a finger connected to the lever and normallyprojecting through the feed plate, and a lever pivoted onto the frame ofthe press and arranged to co-act with the first named lever; said lastnamed lever having a roller arranged in eccentric relation to thepivotal point of the lever and which is arranged to be engaged by acam-surface of the moving bed.

In testimony whereof I a'liix my signature.

LEWIS R. BARBER.

